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"You said you could imagine the sort of gift I would like to learn. I am curious what you think they are." she says her blue eyes twinkling with interest.

Jeremy actually looks perplexed by that doubling down of a question. "I... I answered that. Vampiric disciplines." He shrugged, "Given you didn't know what manner of vampire I was before I introduced myself, I doubt the desire was any more specific than that, Ms. Loggins."

"Oh I see." she says with a yawn. "Its been a long day. What would you be willing to trade for that book?" she asks taking another sip of her tea.

"Perhaps we could trade services for the book. Tell me what do you do?"

"My hope had been to trade currency," He replied wryly, but didn't press the issue any further. "I specialize in dream therapy. My thaumaturgic specialty is sleep and the manipulation of dreams. I know other mystic rituals as well, but that's what I'm mainly interest in. I work with mortals to help face their fears and best their nightmares and take a bit of blood for the service. They're left fatigued but mentally stronger, which I consider an equitable trade. Do you have mental demons that plague you, Mary?"

Her eyes look down "I um...not nightmares but I'm defiantly not the person I used to be." she says softly then coughs taking a sip of her tea.

"What about you?" she says switching the subject off of herself.

"Many vampires sleep so deeply they don't dream. Especially younger vampires. Nothing to be concerned about. Perhaps a blessing, really. Our dreams tend to be disturbing, based on human sensibilities." In another circumstance, he might elaborate more, but he could sense her discomfort, so followed her change of subject, "I've a fair about of time to come to terms with my condition, and I think my clan may make it a bit easier. We're a collection of scholars for the most part, so childer are brought up in a stable, calm environment. Admittedly, a stifling one, but none of us have an ideal circumstance."

"I was left for dead...3 years ago" she says looking at Jeremy. "Id be dead if it wasn't for Megan and Brad." she adds wrapping her hands around her warm mug.

"How long has it been for you?...Did you find your old self after?" she asks.

"It's been over three centuries for me, Ms. Loggins. Long enough to realize the man I was died when I was embraced. We are different creatures now, emotionally, biologically, mentally, and even spiritually. Trying to chase after or mourn the person you were only delays the discovery of who you are now." Reaching across the table, he rested a hand on her wrist, "A completely natural response. Don't think I'm judging you, Ms. Loggins. Your path is your own, and not an easy one to tread."

"I was such a happy person though. Smiling and outspoken. Now I seem to hide all the time. I'm not the bubbly person I once was. In scared most of the time." she admits her eyes cast down on her cup.

"How do I not be scared of those out there. Things out there of myth and tales?" she asks looking up at him, her face looking very young.

"Accept that you are one of them." Jeremy replied with a light smile. "Having friends help. Vampires need to have a coterie. A collection of other vampires who they feel they can depend upon for mutual support and defense. Be useful. Be mindful. Be political but understand your place and limitations. You are a neonate. No one expects much of you, nor will they until you reach your first hundred years, but you have strengths most of us cannot imagine. You are a child of this age. The world has changed at a breathtaking pace, and you are a part of that change. You likely know how to program a VCR. That is a strength."

Being an older Ancilla, Jeremy didn't realize VCRs had already come and gone. It's tough to keep up with the times.

She smiled "People don't use VCRs anymore." She took another sip of her tea. She had heard his words "So just know supernatural things are real? What do you do about them? I mean how do you protect yourself from them?" she asked clearly uneasy of the topic.

"I mean all I can really do is run fast and hide. I can't just hide forever." she adds a tiny bit of anger coming to her voice.

“And you know that, proving my point.” The older vampire replied easily, unperturbed that humans had moved on from that gadget to another. He didn’t watch television or films. His eyes were keen enough to see the picture changing line by line, something Mary might have problems with as well. Of course, her more modern mind might compensate, having developed with moving pictures.


“You needn’t hide. You have an excellent survival gift in your Celerity. Very few things can cause lasting harm to you at range. They can hurt you, yes, but cannot typically kill you. Running away isn’t cowardice, it is wisdom. You are immortal barring misadventure. There’s no need to confront trouble when you can outlive it.” He shrugged and continued, “Yes, there are many dangers in the world, just the same as their were before your embrace. That’s no reason to stop living the life you wish, so long as that wished upon life doesn’t involve sunbathing.”

She sighs, shakes her head and smiles "I'm sorry. Your not at work." she adds "So tell me about yourself Mr. Kline." then takes her last sip of tea.

The regulars of the store came and went but a small group came in wearing cloaks, pointed ears and one had fangs. They ordered coffee and sat in a booth. The only regularly dressed individual set up a paper barrier on the table and began weaving a story.

"I'm not much of one for sharing, Ms. Loggins. Too long on my side of the couch, I suppose. I'm a quiet man of simple tastes and a deep, abiding curiosity about dreams and the inner workings of the mind. I wasn't much of an occultist until after my embrace. Rather, I was experimenting with lucid dreaming and chemical augmentations of said dreams." He chuckled lightly, "Here we are, hundreds of years later, and they still intrigue me."

"Well if you ever need people you can use Brad or Megan." she says. "They both dream. I wish I still did. The odd watery creativity of them." she says trailing off.

"You could dream. You'd just need help getting there. It's relatively trivial if one knows the right rituals to put another in a dream state, even a vampire." He tapped the side of his temple, "Your subconscious is still there. You just sleep too deeply to hear it."

Leaning closer, Jeremy murmured, "Don't be so quick to give another access to your ghouls, even a friendly vampire, especially a friendly Tremere. We could get up to all manner of mischief with blood Thaumaturgy, even steal your blood from their veins to use in our rituals."

She bite her lip and blushed "Sorry. I just thought if help. If you want to put up your business card on my board you can use my shoppers." she offers as a backup.

"You really think I could really dream again?" she says eyes twinkling.

"Thank you." He inclined his head graciously. "Given your clientele, I imagine there are insomniacs who could use sleep therapy." Jeremy didn't dwell on the ghouls. All vampires were neonates once, and apparently her sire wasn't giving her much guidance. Thankfully, he was not as predatory or exploitive as some.

"More than likely. A complete inability to dream is very rare. Not impossible, but rare. It's something we could determine with a single session. Within a few minutes, really. I could do it here, but who wants to fall asleep in front of employees?" He wore a wry smile.